A known form of screen printing machines comprises a screen printing stencil, a squeegee or doctor for displacing a printing agent such as ink through the stencil, and a means for holding the article or material to be printed. The carrier or holder of this machine comprises two parts, one part engaging the article, such as a bottle, at one end and the other part engaging the article at the other end. The two parts of the carrier or holder are interconnected by a transverse member which extends substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the article and which is arranged at the side of the article which is remote from the stencil.
It will be appreciated that the above-discussed screen printing machine is of a thoroughly simple construction. The printing capacity of such a machine is very low, although the number of operators required is comparatively high, so that these machines represent a combination of low capacity and high labour costs. This is essentially because the articles must be inserted into the screen printing machine, that is to say, fitted to the holder thereof, by hand, and also have to be manually removed after the printing operation has been carried out. It is not possible for a screen printing machine of this kind to be incorporated into a series of successively disposed apparatuses for treating the article, with automatic feed and discharge of the article.
Another known form of screen printing machine does not suffer from the above-indicated disadvantages. However, these machines are substantially more complicated and more expensive in regard to their construction, and also in regard to equipment for controlling the general mode of operation thereof. This is due inter alia to the fact that the two parts of the article carrier are mounted independently of each other so that each part of the holder must be connected to separate components for transmitting or producing the reciprocating movement of the article holder, which is conventionally produced in machines of this kind.